Lenders say first-time buyers returned to the market at the start of 2013. Photograph: John Stillwell/PA

Lending to first-time buyers increased by 3% in February, making it the busiest start to a year for people joining the property ladder since 2008. However, the five-year high in that sector of the market was tempered by falls in the number of mortgages granted to people moving house.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said those who had never owned a property before were continuing to take advantage of more favourable market conditions, with a total of 16,400 loans made to first-time buyers in February. The figure was up 3.1% on the 15,900 granted the previous month, and 17% higher than the 14,000 in February 2012.

First-time buyers accounted for 43% of all house purchase loans in February – the sixth consecutive month that this proportion has been at or above 40%. The data comes as George Osborne targets first-time buyers with his Help to Buy scheme, which was announced in last month's budget and is designed to bolster the mortgage market through loan guarantees and support for acquiring new-build homes.

The CML said that in terms of affordability, the market was "marginally more favourable" in February. First-time buyers typically borrowed a smaller amount than in January, with the percentage of income swallowed up by mortgage payments falling slightly, from 19.8% to 19.5%.

By contrast, lending to home movers fell in February for the third month running. A total of 21,500 loans were made to borrowers who moved house during the month – down by 3.6% on January's figures.

Meanwhile, remortgage lending remained "subdued", with big falls in the number of loans to people switching to another deal. In February, £2.6bn was lent to those remortgaging, which is down 13.3% compared with January, and almost 28% lower than the £3.9bn lent in February 2012.

The figures cover a period before the budget, when the chancellor announced the launch of the Help to Buy scheme.

Paul Smee, CML director general, said: "We hope the new initiatives announced by the government in the 2013 budget will further stimulate first-time buyer activity, but also help those 'second steppers' looking to move into a new or existing home."

The Funding for Lending scheme, under which the Bank of England backs loan to small businesses and homebuyers, has also received credit for renewing confidence in the housing market.

Mark Harris, chief executive of the mortgage broker SPF Private Clients, said brokers and estate agents had seen increased interest and confidence from buyers and sellers since the start of the year.

"Undoubtedly, Funding for Lending is playing a significant part, pushing down mortgage rates to record lows," he said. "Hardly a week goes by without a new 'lowest-ever' fixed-rate mortgage being launched, which is encouraging borrowers to be more positive about their chances of getting a mortgage and being able to afford it."

A separate report claimed house sellers have hiked their asking prices to the highest amounts ever recorded in the month of April amid further signs of a recovering market. The property website Rightmove found that the gap between the sums that sellers were asking and selling prices had also narrowed, indicating that sellers were having to negotiate less and buyers were in a position to pay more.

Asking prices rose by 2.1% month on month to reach £244,706 on average, which it said was the highest figure recorded by the research for the month of April, and stood just £1,500 below an all-time high set in June 2012.